Have you always wanted to make a difference in a young person’s life? Do you have a skill you are willing to share? Can you volunteer ten hours of your time this summer? Wowser is hosting workshops this summer, targeted to high school aged youth. We’d like to offer you a chance to give back.

We’re holding eight, separate weekly sessions over the summer. We’re asking you pick a week, and the first or second time slot, to share what you know.

There are several instructors in place and we’re looking for more so we can offer as wide a variety of opportunities for our members this summer.

We’re looking for both physical makers and artistic makers. The types of classes include: welding, woodworking, lost-wax casting, painting (both artistic and house painting) bike repair, stained glass, sign making, electronics, alternate medicine kit, build your own computer, storytelling, make a 4th of July float, make something steam punk, sewing, and costume making. Tell me what you want to teach and we can probably plug it in.

The dates are:

• June 15 to 19
• June 22-27
• June 20 to July 3 (short week)
• July 7 to July 12
• July 15 to July 19
• July 22 to July 26
• July 28 to Aug 1
• August 4 to August 8

Times are either 12:30 pm – 2:30 p m or 4 pm – 6 pm.

Our summer program runs for eight weeks, and we’re asking for time commitments of 10 hours a week, (or longer if you wish). This will be a rewarding and fun project! If you have a skill you want to share with our teens, please let me know.

Join us for a little bit or a lot of your summer.

Please email Cyndee or call: 707-459-9697, or stop by to talk, 330 East Commercial St. Willits, CA 95490.

– Cyndee Logan

Image Credit

I first started lost-wax casting in high school some time ago.  Since then life has taken me in many directions.  I came back to lost wax casting at Wowser, and since then my creative side has led me to add braising, welding, a 40 ton press, and an electric screw gun to my arsenal of skills for working metals in the creation of jewelry.   I am also about to learn how to create 3D pieces of fiber for casting.  There is always more to learn about something you love doing.

For this article I am going to take you through the process of lost wax casting.  As with any form of art, there are many ways to ‘get there’ and this is just one of them.

Lost-wax casting (also called investment casting) is the process by which a duplicate metal sculpture (often silver, gold, brass or bronze) is cast from an original sculpture.  The oldest known examples of this technique are Conservative Carbon 14 estimates, show items to c. 3700 BCE, making them more than 5700 years old!

The steps used in casting small sculptures today are fairly standardized. The process I am discussing today is waste wax process [Read more…]

Bring in the new year at Wowser!  We are starting at 7 pm, bring a snack and and instrument if you wish.  We will talk, jam, dance and play.  Bring a guest if you wish.  Bring in 2015 with Wowser.